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Team Handshake

Employee Spotlight: Handshake's Employer Team

Spotlighting four members of our Employer Team, why they joined Handshake, and what they love about working here.

Our team is passionate about working to empower students from all backgrounds to find and build meaningful careers. In 2017, we raised a $40M Series C investment to accelerate the impact we can have on students to deepen our work in the United States and look for ways to support students globally.

In the upcoming year, we are growing our team significantly by hiring individuals who are passionate about solving big problems, making an impact and collaborating inclusively across an organization to achieve our goals.

We want to introduce you to a few of the phenomenal individuals on our Employer Team. Our Employer Team partners with more than 300,000 businesses across the country, including 100% of the Fortune 500 to help engage, source and attract early career talent with a data-driven approach.

If you’re interested in joining our team, we’d be thrilled to welcome you.

Janessa Pinon, Employer Sales

Why did you join Handshake?

I chose Handshake because I completely identified with the mission. I loved how I was going to be a part of a sales organization that was making a major impact on students’ lives and aiming towards a meaningful goal. I was particularly excited to join the team because I would be one of the first people on the team and help it grow.

The mission resonated with me immediately because I am a first generation student who had no idea how to navigate the career world. I had a ton of support from my parents, but in the end did not have any specific advice or connections to leverage for my college to career transition. I also struggled with where to find a job. I didn't know where to go to find entry level positions, and felt that the Career Center didn't provide me with the proper resources to help either.

What's your favorite thing about Handshake's culture?

My favorite thing about Handshake's culture is how friendly, and supportive everyone is. To this day (and especially when I first started) so many people from different sides of the business will come up and say hi to me and ask how things are going. It's a super open culture, and everyone cares about one another.

Why do you encourage people to join Handshake?

I'd love for new hires to know that our team is incredibly collaborative and helpful. It's a really exciting time to join the Employer team with the momentum we've built and the impact we are having on Employers. Since we are a growing team, everyone is constantly sharing ideas and thoughts to help other team members be successful in order to learn and grow.

Alex Holt, Employer Sales

Why did you join Handshake?

I joined Handshake because I was incredibly impressed by the people I met across the team. Every individual was unique, passionate, and could be doing anything in their own right. The fact that they had all chosen to join Handshake was a testament to the vision here. I was so excited to join and learn from so many smart people.

I vividly remember how confusing and complex the process of landing my first job was as a senior in college - even with a desirable resume from a well-known school (Texas A&M). I can only imagine how difficult it can be for individuals who come from more underserved backgrounds or more obscure universities. I’m also a huge advocate for democratizing access to opportunity for individuals from underprivileged populations.

Handshake’s mission is a perfect intersection of my own experience and the impact I want to be for this world. I’m on the Employer Partnerships team. It’s our responsibility to grow and develop the use of Handshake by employers across the nation.

What do you enjoy most about your role?

I love my role because I get the unique experience of seeing both students and employers benefit from our efforts to grow our footprint across the US and abroad. For every employer we add to Handshake, students get more access to great jobs that they previously may not have had. For employers, we’re able to vastly improve their ability to manage university recruiting and engage with students in meaningful ways.

What's your favorite thing about Handshake's culture?

My favorite thing about Handshake’s culture is our commitment to learning and growth. “Learn. Grow. Repeat.” is one of our core values and it’s not taken lightly. On your first week, you’re asked to present a book that’s been impactful in your life to the entire company. That mentality of sharing knowledge is pervasive and you’re constantly expected to challenge yourself.

Why do you encourage people to join Handshake?

Anybody that is interested in joining our sales team should know that selling Handshake is incredibly fulfilling. We get the opportunity every day to come in and work with interesting people across a wide variety of industries who have a real chance to benefit from our tool. As an added bonus, we get to see our efforts benefit millions of students every year.

Kristen Ribero, Employer Marketing

Why did you join Handshake?

I joined Handshake because I truly believe in leveling the playing field and bringing equity to processes that are historically riddled with bias. Any small amount of change I can affect here with early talent moving from college to career is something I want to be a part of. And, a big plus for me was being able to work again with Brett Skale, Handshake's VP of Sales; he and I worked together in a prior role and I really enjoyed our partnership.

I come from a very large Hispanic family and up until recently was the only one of us who worked in tech. At home, my family didn't really understand what it was like to work in a tech startup and at work, I'm used to being the only Latina woman in a room...especially coming from the film industry, publishing, then ITOps software. As I've grown in my career, I've realized how important it is to me as a person and as a marketer to feel like I have a voice and connect to a company's mission and product. Handshake is the perfect combination of those things for me.

What do you enjoy most about your role?

As head of employer marketing for a rapidly growing team, my day-to-day regularly wavers between strategy and execution - and that's why I love it. I'm not only able to work directly with our product and sales team on how we go to market, but even better, I'm able to see my team take on new challenges and directly drive pipeline and revenue.

What's your favorite thing about Handshake's culture?

My favorite thing about our culture is how I can see everyone connect to our mission in their own way. It makes people show up to work differently (more curious, more sensitive, more honest) -- and ultimately makes working with everyone so much easier. We've built a really healthy organization, especially when it comes to sales and marketing alignment, and it's something I'm very proud of.

Why do you encourage people to join Handshake?

I'd love to share what an exciting time it is to join our company. We've developed strong brand awareness and product-market fit in our employer market, which is not always the case in sales. And we're still in the phase where every team member that comes in can truly impact the big decisions we're still making. They're joining to be a part of something meaningful and big.

Eddie Tavarez, Employer Sales

Why did you join Handshake?

I joined Handshake because I saw so many friends and family limit themselves to the opportunities around them. Growing up in a rural part of California, it was hard to picture doing something outside of Agriculture. Handshake is helping students think bigger for themselves and globalize their career search.

I've spent 10+ years recruiting college students helping them try to find meaningful careers, build their soft skills, and become entrepreneurial. Everything I would hope to accomplish in that mission is happening at a larger scale than I alone could accomplish. I'm proud to be part of a team that is aligned to inspiring students to find meaningful careers.

What do you enjoy most about your role?

Every day is an exercise of helping companies more effectively engage and recruit talent. I love that I am able to influence and transform how companies build early talent pipelines and cultivate their future leaders of the company. With 700+ universities, millions of students and 300k employers I'm always impressed by Handshake's ability to provide real insight to the college recruiting landscape.

What's your favorite thing about Handshake's culture?

I appreciate the passion that folks have about helping students. That passion translates into hard work and ownership across the company. It's nice knowing that there are people willing to go the extra mile knowing that they can impact student lives.

Why do you encourage people to join Handshake?

Be ready for an opportunity to be a part of the fastest growing team at the company. The sales team is working on one of the most important challenges at Handshake so there's an opportunity to make an impact at the company level. The sales leadership you will work with will also help grow and inspire you.

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